



^^ 



'^s ^ % '-y^m' ^^ ^ 




Frontispiece. 



AUTUMN 



JAMES THOMSON 



ILLUSTRATED 



_.^f^' 5 1892 

ESTES AND LAURIAT 7 i"^ fi V 
PUBLISHERS 



X 



^-o 



t^ 



T' 



Copyright, 1892, 
By ESTES and LAURIAT. 



Typography by J. S. Gushing & Co., Boston. 



Presswork by Berwick & Smith, Boston. 



*: 







# 




AUTUMN. 



r^ ROWNED with the sickle and the wheaten 

sheaf, 
While Autumn, nodding o'er the yellow plain, 
Comes jovial on, the Doric reed once more, 
Well pleased, I tune. Whatever the wintry- 
frost, 



E])t Seasons. 



Nitrous, prepared ; the various blossomed 

Spring 
Put in white promise forth ; and summer-suns 
Concocted strong, rush boundless now to view, 
Full, perfect all, and swell my glorious theme. 
Onslow ! the Muse, ambitious of thy name, 
To grace, inspire, and dignify her song, 
Would from the public voice thy gentle ear 
Awhile engage. Thy noble cares she knows, 
The patriot virtues that distend thy thought, 
Spread on thy front, and in thy bosom glow ; 
While listening senates hang upon thy tongue. 
Devolving through the maze of eloquence 
A roll of periods, sweeter than her song. 
But she too pants for public virtue, she. 
Though weak of power, yet strong in ardent 

will. 
Whene'er her country rushes on her heart, 
Assumes a bolder note, and fondly tries 
To mix the patriot's wdth the poefs flame. 
When the briglit Virgin gives the beauteous 

days. 
And Libra weighs in equal scales the year. 
From heaven's high cope the fierce effulgence 

shook 8 



Autumn, 



Of parting Summer, a serener blue, 
With golden light enlivened, wide invests 
The happy world. Attempered suns arise. 
Sweet-beamed, and shedding oft through lucid 

clouds 
A pleasing calm ; while broad and brown, be- 
low, 
Extensive harvests hang the heavy head. 
Rich, silent, deep, they stand ; for not a gale 
Rolls its light billows o'er the bending plain : 
A calm of plenty ! till the ruffled air 
Falls from its poise, and gives the breeze to 

blow. 
Rent is the fleecy mantle of the sky ; 
The clouds fly different ; and the sudden sun 
By fits eff'ulgent gilds the illumined field. 
And black by fits the shadows sweep along. 
A gayly checkered, heart-expanding view, 
Far as the circling eye can shoot around, 
Unbounded tossing in a flood of corn. 

These are thy blessings. Industry ! rough 
power ! 
Whom labour still attends, and sweat, and 
pain ; 



Wi)t Reasons. 



Yet the kind source of every gentle art, 
And all the soft civility of life : 
Raiser of human kind! by nature cast, 
Naked, and helpless, out amid the woods 
And wilds, to rude inclement elements ; 
With various seeds of art deep in the mitid 
Implanted, and profusely poured around 
Materials infinite, but idle all. 
Still unexerted, in the unconscious breast, 
Slept the lethargic powers ; corruption still, 
Voracious, swallowed what the liberal hand 
Of bounty scattered o'er the savage year ; 
And still the sad barbarian, roving, mixed 
With beasts of prey ; or for his acorn-meal 
Fought the fierce tusky boar ; a shivering 

wretch ! 
Aghast and comfortless when the bleak north, 
With Winter charged, let the mixed tempest 

fly. 

Hail, rain, and snow, and bitter-breathing 

frost. 
Then to the shelter of the hut he fled ; 
And the wild season, sordid, pined away : 
For home he had not ; home is the resort 

10 



Autumn. 



Of love, of joy, of peace and plenty ; where, 
Supporting and supported, polished friends 
And dear relations mingle into bliss. 
B-it this the rugged savage never felt, 
Even desolate in crowds ; and thus his days 
Rolled heavy, dark, and unenjoyed along : 
A waste of time! till Industry approached, 
And roused him from his miserable sloth ; 
His faculties unfolded ; pointed out 
Where lavish Nature the directing hand 
Of art demanded ; showed him how to raise 
His feeble force by the mechanic powers, 
To dig the mineral from the vaulted earth, 
On what to turn the piercing rage of fire. 
On what the torrent, and the gathered blast ; 
Gave the tall ancient forest to his axe ; 
Taught him to chip the wood, and hew the 

stone, 
Till by degrees the finished fabric rose ; 
Tore from his limbs the blood-polluted fur. 
And wrapt them in the woolly vestment warm, 
Or bright in glossy silk, and flowing lawn ; 
With wholesome viands filled his table, poured 
The generous glass around, inspired to wake 
13 



2Ej)e Reasons. 



The life-refining soul of decent wit : 

Nor stopped at barren bare necessity ; 

But still advancing bolder, led him on 

To pomp, to pleasure, elegance, and grace ; 

And, breathing high ambition through his 

soul, 
Set science, wisdom, glory, in his view, 
And bade him be the Lord of all below. 
Then gathering men their natural powers 

combined, 
And formed a public ; to the general good 
Submitting, aiming, and conducting all. 
For this the patriot-council met — the full. 
The free, and fairly represented whole ; 
For this they planned the holy guardian laws. 
Distinguished orders, animated arts. 
And with joint force oppression chaining, set 
Imperial Justice at the helm ; yet still 
To them accountable : nor slavish dreamed 
That toiling millions must resign their weal, 
And all the honey of their search, to such 
As for themselves alone themselves have 

raised. 
Hence every form of cultivated life 
14 



Autumn, 



In order set, protected, and inspired, 
Into perfection wrought. Uniting all, 
Society grew numerous, high, polite, 




H-'»_;; 






And happy. Nurse of art, the City reared 
In beauteous pride her tower-encircled head ; 
And, stretching street on street, by thousands 
drew, 

15 



Cjje Reasons. 



From twining woody haunts, or the tough yew 
To bows strong-straining, her aspiring sons. 
Then Commerce brought into the public 

walk 
The busy merchant ; the big warehouse built ; 
Raised the strong crane ; choked up the 

loaded street 
With foreign plenty ; and thy stream, O 

Thames, 
Large, gentle, deep, majestic, king of floods! 
Chose for his grand resort. On either hand. 
Like a long wintry forest, groves of masts 
Shot up their spires ; the bellying sheet be- 
tween 
Possessed the breezy void ; the sooty hulk 
Steered, sluggish, on ; the splendid barge 

along 
Rowed, regular, to harmony ; around. 
The boat, light-skimming, stretched its oary 

wings ; 
While deep the various voice of fervent toil 
From bank to bank increased ; whence ribbed 

with oak. 
To bear the British thunder, black and bold, 
i6 



Autumn. 



The roaring vessel rushed into the main. 

Then too the pillared dome, magnific, 
heaved 
Its ample roof; and Luxury within 
Poured out her glittering stores ; the canvas 

smooth, 
With glowing life protuberant, to the view 
Embodied rose ; the statue seemed to breathe, 
And soften into flesh, beneath the touch 
Of forming art, imagination-flushed. 

All is the gift of Industry ; whatever 
Exalts, embellishes, and renders life 
Delightful. Pensive Winter, cheered by him, 
Sits at the social fire, and happy hears 
The excluded tempest idly rave along ; 
His hardened fingers deck the gaudy Spring ; 
Without him Summer were an arid waste ; 
Nor to the autumnal months could thus trans- 
mit 
Those full, mature, immeasurable stores. 
That, waving round, recall my wandering song. 

Soon as the morning trembles o^er the sky, 
And, unperceived, unfolds the spreading day. 
Before the ripened field the reapers stand, 
19 



Wi)t Reasons, 



In fair array, each by the lass he loves, 
To bear the rougher part, and mitigate 
By nameless gentle offices her toil. 
At once they stoop, and swell the lusty 

sheaves ; 
While through their cheerful band the rural 

talk, 
The rural scandal, and the rural jest. 
Fly harmless, to deceive the tedious time, 
And steal, unfelt, the sultry hours away. 
Behind the master walks ; builds up the 

shocks ; 
And, conscious, glancing oft on every side 
His sated eye, feels his heart heave with joy. 
The gleaners spread around, and here and 

there. 
Spike after spike, their sparing harvest pick. 
Be not too narrow, husbandmen ! but fling 
From the full sheaf, with charitable stealth, 
The liberal handful. Think, O, grateful 

think! 
How good the God of harvest is to you ; 
Who pours abundance o^er your flowing fields. 
While these unhappy partners of your kind 
20 



Autumn, 



Wide-hover round you, like tlie fowls of 

heaven, 
And ask their humble dole. The various turns 




Of fortune ponder ; that your sons may want 

What now, with hard reluctance, faint, ye give. 

The lovely young Lavinia once had friends ; 

21 



EJe &zmm&. 



And fortune smiled, deceitful, on her birth. 
For, in her helpless years deprived of all, 
Of every stay, save innocence and Heaven, 
She, with her widowed mother, feeble, old. 
And poor, lived in a cottage, far retired 
Among the windings of a woody vale ; 
By solitude and deep surrounding shades. 
But more by bashful modesty, concealed. 
Together thus they shunned the cruel scorn 
Which virtue, sunk to poverty, would meet 
From giddy fashion and low-minded pride ; 
Almost on Nature's common bounty fed ; 
Like the gay birds that sung them to repose. 
Content, and careless of to-morrow's fare. 
Her form was fresher than the morning rose, 
When the dew wets its leaves ; unstained and 

pure 
As is the lily, or the mountain snow. 
The modest virtues mingled in her eyes, 
Still on the ground dejected, darting all 
Their humid beams into the blooming flowers : 
Or when the mournful tale her mother told. 
Of what her faithless fortune promised once. 
Thrilled in her thought, they, like the dewy 

star 22 



Autumn, 



Of evening, shone in tears. A native grace 
Sat, fair-proportioned, on her poHshed limbs, 
Veiled in a simple robe, their best attire ; 
Beyond the pomp of dress ; for loveliness 
Needs not the foreign aid of ornament. 
But is, when unadorned, adorned the most. 
Thoughtless of beauty, she was Beauty's self. 
Recluse amid the close-embowering woods. 
As in the hollow breast of Apennine, 
Beneath the shelter of encircling hills, 
A myrtle rises, far from human eye. 
And breathes its balmy fragrance o'er the 

wild ; 
So flourished blooming, and unseen by all. 
The sweet Lavinia ; till, at length, compelled 
By strong Necessity's supreme command. 
With smiling patience in her looks, she went 
To glean Palemon's fields. The pride of 

swains 
Palemon was, the generous, and the rich ; 
Who led the rural life in all its joy 
And elegance, such as Arcadian song 
Transmits from ancient uncorrupted times. 
When tyrant custom had not shackled man, 
23 



W^t .Seasons. 



But free to follow Nature was the mode. 
He then, his fancy with autumnal scenes 
Amusing, chanced beside his reaper-train 
To walk, when poor Lavinia drew his eye ; 
Unconscious of her power, and turning quick 
With unaffected blushes from his gaze : 
He saw her charming, but he saw not half 
The charms her down-cast modesty concealed. 
That very moment love and chaste desire 
Sprung in his bosom, to himself unknown ; 
For still the world prevailed and its dread 

laugh. 
Which scarce the firm philosopher can scorn, 
Should his heart own a gleaner in the field ; 
And thus in secret to his soul he sighed : — 

"What pity! that so delicate a form. 
By beauty kindled, where enlivening sense 
And more than vulgar goodness seem to 

dwell. 
Should be devoted to the rude embrace 
Of some indecent clown! 

thinks, 
Of old Acasto's line ; and to my mind 
Recalls that patron of my hap]:)y life, 
24 



Autumn, 



From whom my liberal fortune took its rise ; 
Now to the dust gone down, — his houses, 

lands, 
And once fair-spreading family, dissolved. 
'T is said that in some lone, obscure retreat. 
Urged by remembrance sad, and decent pride, 
Far from those scenes which knew their better 

days. 
His aged widow and his daughter live, 
Whom yet my fruitless search could never 

find. 
Romantic wish! would this the daughter 

were! " 
When, strict inquiring, from herself he 

found 
She was the same, the daughter of his friend. 
Of bountiful Acasto, who can speak 
The mingled passions that surprised his 

heart. 
And through his nerves in shivering transport 

ran? 
Then blazed his smothered flame, avowed, 

and bold ; 
And as he viewed her, ardent, o'er and o'er, 
27 



i!l\)t Reasons, 



Love, gratitude, and pity wept at once. 
Confused, and frightened, at his sudden tears, 
Her rising beauties flushed a higher bloom, 
As thus Palemon, passionate and just. 
Poured out the pious rapture of his soul : 

"And art thou then Acasto's dear remains? 
She, whom my restless gratitude has sought, 
So long in vain? O yes! the very same, 
The softened image of my noble friend ; 
Alive his every feature, every look. 
More elegantly touched. Sweeter than Spring, 
Thou sole surviving blossom from the root 
That nourished up my fortune, say, ah where, 
In what sequestered desert hast thou drawn 
The kindest aspect of delighted heaven ? 
Into such beauty spread, and blown so fair; 
Though poverty's cold wind and cnashing 

rain 
Beat, keen and heavy, on thy tender years ? 
O, let me now into a richer soil 
Transplant thee safe, where vernal suns and 

showers 
Diffuse their warmest, largest influence ; 
And of my garden be the pride and joy ! 
28 



Autumn, 



It ill befits thee, O, it ill befits 

Acasto's daughter, — his, whose open stores^ 

Though vast, were little to his ampler heart, 




The father of a country, — thus to pick 
The very refuse of those harvest fields 
Which from his bounteous friendship I enjoy. 
29 



E])t .Seasons. 



Then throw that shameful pittance from thy 

hand, 
But ill-appHed to such a rugged task ; 
The fields, the master, all, my fair, are thine ; 
If to the various blessings which thy house 
Has on me lavished, thou wilt add that bliss, 
That dearest bliss, the power of blessing 
thee ! '' 
Here ceased the youth : yet still his speak- 
ing eye 
Expressed the sacred triumph of his soul. 
With conscious virtue, gratitude, and love. 
Above the vulgar joy divinely raised. 
Nor waited he reply. Won by the charm 
Of goodness irresistible, and all 
In sweet disorder lost, she blushed consent. 
The news immediate to her mother brought. 
While, pierced with anxious thought, she 

pined away 
The lonely moments for Lavinia's fate ; 
Amazed, and scarce believing what she heard, 
Joy seized her withered veins, and one bright 
ofleam 



30 



Autumn, 



Not less enraptured than the happy pair ; 
Who flourished long in tender bliss, and 

reared 
A numerous offspring, lovely like themselves. 
And good, the grace of all the country round. 

Defeating oft the labours of the year, 
The sultry South collects a potent blast. 
At first, the groves are scarcely seen to stir 
Their trembling tops, and a still murmur runs 
Along the soft-inclining fields of corn ; 
But as the aerial tempest fuller swells, 
And in one mighty stream, invisible. 
Immense, the whole excited atmosphere 
Impetuous rushes o'er the sounding world, 
Strained to the root, the stooping forest pours 
A rustling shower of yet untimely leaves. 
High beat, the circling mountains eddy in, 
From the bare wild, the dissipated storm, 
And send it in a torrent down the vale. 
Exposed, and naked to its utmost rage. 
Through all the sea of harvest rolling round, 
The billowy plain floats wide ; nor can evade? 
Though pliant to the blast, its seizing force ; 
Or whirled in air, or into vacant chaff" 
31 



iIL\}t .Seasons. 



Shook waste. And sometimes too a burst of 

rain. 
Swept from the black horizon, broad, de- 
scends 
In one continuous flood. Still overhead 
The mingling tempest weaves its gloom, and 

still 
The deluge deepens ; till the fields around 
Lie sunk and flatted in the sordid wave. 
Sudden the ditches swell ; the meadows swim. 
Red, from the hills, innumerable streams 
Tumultuous roar, and high above its banks 
The river lift ; before whose rushing tide 
Herds, flocks, and harvests, cottages, and 

swains, 
Roll mingled down : all that the winds had 

spared. 
In one wild moment ruined ; the big hopes, 
And well-earned treasures of the painful year. 
Fled to some eminence, the husbandman 
Helpless beholds the miserable wreck 
Driving along ; his drowning ox at once 
Descending, with his labours scattered round, 
He sees ; and instant o'er his shivering 
thought 32 



Autumn. 



Comes Winter unprovided, and a train 
Of clamant children dear. Ye masters, then, 
Be mindful of the rough laborious hand 
That sinks you soft in elegance and ease ; 
Be mindful of those limbs, in russet clad. 
Whose toil to yours is warmth and graceful 

pride ; 
And, O, be mindful of that sparing board, 
Which covers yours with luxury profuse, 
Makes your glass sparkle, and your sense re- 
joice ; 
Nor cruelly demand what the deep rains 
And all-involving winds have swept away ! 
Here the rude clamour of the sportsman''s 

joy, 
The gun fast-thundering, and the winded 

horn, 
Would tempt the Muse to sing the rural 

game : 
How, in his mid-career, the spaniel struck 
Stiff, by the tainted gale, with open nose. 
Outstretched and finely sensible, draws full, 
Fearful and cautious, on the latent prey ; 
As in the sun the circling covey bask 
35 



E\)t ^rasons. 



Their varied plumes, and watchful every way. 
Through the rough stubble turn the secret 

eye. 
Caught in the meshy snare, in vain they beat 
Their idle wings, entangled more and more : 
Nor on the surges of the boundless air. 
Though borne triumphant, are they safe ; the 

gun. 
Glanced just and sudden from the fowler's 

eye, 
Overtakes their sounding pinions ; and again. 
Immediate, brings them from the towering 

wing, 
Dead to the ground ; or drives them wide 

dispersed. 
Wounded, and wheeling various, down the 

wind. 
These are not subjects for the peaceful Muse, 
Nor will she stain with such her spotless 

song ; 
Then most delighted, when she social sees 
The whole mixed animal-creation round 
Alive and happy. 'T is not joy to her. 
This falsely cheerful, barbarous game of death, 
36 



Autumn, 



This rage of pleasure, which the restless youth 
Awakes, impatient, with the gleaming morn ; 
When beasts of prey retire, that all night 

long, 
Urged by necessity, had ranged the dark. 
As if their conscious ravage shunned the 

light, 
Ashamed. Not so the steady tyrant man, 
Who, with the thoughtless insolence of power 
Inflamed, beyond the most infuriate wrath 
Of the worst monster that e'er roamed the 

waste, 
For sport alone pursues the cruel chase, 
Amid the beamings of the gentle days. 
Upbraid, ye ravening tribes, our wanton rage. 
For hunger kindles you, and lawless want ; 
But lavish fed, in Nature's bounty rolled. 
To joy at anguish, and delight in blood, 
Is what your horrid bosoms never knew. 

Poor is the triumph o'er the timid hare. 
Scared from the corn, and now to some lone 

seat 
Retired, — the rushy fen ; the ragged furze. 
Stretched o'er the stony heath ; the stubble 

chapt ; 37 



5rf)c Reasons. 



The thistly lawn ; the thick entangled broom ; 
Of the same friendly hue, the withered fern ; 
The fallow ground laid open to the sun, 
Concoctive ; and the nodding sandy bank. 
Hung o'er the mazes of the mountain brook. 
Vain is her best precaution ; though she sits 
Concealed, with folded ears, unsleeping eyes, 
By Nature raised to take the horizon in. 
And head couched close betwixt her hairy 

feet, 
In act to spring away. The scented dew 
Betrays her early labyrinth ; and deep. 
In scattered sullen openings, far behind, 
With every breeze she hears the coming 

storm. 
But nearer, and more frequent, as it loads 
The sighing gale, she springs amazed, and all 
The savage soul of game is up at once : 
The pack full-opening, various ; the shrill 

horn, 
Resounded from the hills ; the neighing steed, 
Wild for the chase ; and the loud hunter's 

shout ; 
O'er a weak, harmless, flying creature, all 
38 



Autumn. 



Mixed in mad tumult, and discordant joy. 
The stag too, singled from the herd, where 
Ions 




He ranged, the branching monarch of the 

shades, 
Before the tempest drives. At first, in speed, 
39 



E!)e .Seasons. 



He, sprightly, puts his faith ; and, roused by 

fear, 
Gives all his swift aerial soul to flight ; 
Against the breeze he darts, that way the 

more 
To leave the lessening murderous cry behind : 
Deception short ! though fleeter than the 

winds 
Blown o'er the keen-aired mountain by the 

north, 
He bursts the thickets, glances through the 

glades, 
And plunges deep into the wildest wood ; 
If slow, yet sure, adhesive to the track, 
Hot-steaming, up behind him come again 
The inhuman rout, and from the shady depth 
Expel him, circling through his every shift. 
He sweeps the forest oft ; and, sobbing, sees 
The glades, mild opening to the golden day ; 
Where, in kind contest, with his butting 

friends 
He wont to struggle, or his loves enjoy. 
Oft in the full-descending flood he tries 
To lose the scent, and lave his burning sides : 
40 






■«•> 



iM"^m 



Autumn. 



Oft seeks the herd ; the watchful herd, 

alarmed, 
With selfish care avoid a brother's woe. 
What shall he do? His once so vivid nerves, 
So full of buoyant spirit, now no more 
Inspire the course ; but fainting, breathless 

toil. 
Sick, seizes on his heart : he stands at bay ; 
And puts his last weak refuge in despair. 
The big round tears run down his dappled 

face ; 
He groans in anguish ; while the growling 

pack, 
Blood-happy, hang at his fair jutting chest, 
And mark his beauteous checkered sides with 

gore. 
Of this enough. But if the sylvan youth, 
Whose fervent blood boils into violence, 
Must have the chase ; behold, despising flight. 
The roused-up lion, resolute and slow. 
Advancing full on the protended spear, 
And coward band, that, circling, wheel aloof. 
Slunk from the cavern and the troubled wood. 
See the grim wolf; on him his shaggy foe 
43 



W^^t Seasons, 



Vindictive fix, and let tlie ruffian die : 
Or, growling horrid, as the brindled boar 
Grins fell destruction, to the monster's heart 
Let the dart lighten from the nervous arm. 
These Britain knows not ; give, ye Britons, 
then 
Your sportive fury, pitiless, to pour 
Loose on the nightly robber of the fold ; 
Him, from his craggy winding haunts un- 
earthed, 
Let all the thunder of the chase pursue. 
Throw the broad ditch behind you ; o'er the 

hedge 
High bound, resistless ; nor the deep morass 
Refuse, but through the shaking wilderness 
Pick your nice way ; into the perilous flood 
Bear fearless, of the raging instinct full ; 
And, as you ride the torrent, to the banks 
Your triumph sound sonorous, running round, 
From rock to rock, in circling echo tost : 
Then scale the mountains to their woody 

tops ; 
Rush down the dangerous steep ; and o'er 
the lawn, 

44 



Autumn, 



In fancy swallowing up the space between, 
Pour all your speed into the rapid game. 
For happy he who tops the wheeling chase ; 
Has every maze evolved, and every guile 
Disclosed ; who knows the merits of the 

pack ; 
Who saw the villain seized, and dying hard, 
Without complaint, though by an hundred 

mouths 
Relentless torn. O, glorious he, beyond 
His daring peers! when the retreating horn 
Calls them to ghostly halls of grey renown, 
With woodland honours graced ; the fox's fur, 
Depending, decent, from the roof ; and spread 
Round the drear walls, with antic figures 

fierce. 
The stag's large front : he then is loudest 

heard. 
When the night staggers with severer toils. 
With feats Thessalian Centaurs never knew, 
And their repeated wonders shake the dome. 

But first the fuelled chimney blazes wide ; 
The tankards foam ; and the strong table 

groans 

45 



EJc .Seasons. 



Beneath the smoking sirloin, stretched im- 
mense 
From side to side ; in which, with desperate 

knife, 
They deep incision make, and talk the while 
Of England's glory, ne'er to be defaced 
While hence they borrow vigour : or amain 
Into the pasty plunged, at intervals, 
If stomach keen can intervals allow, 
Relating all the glories of the chase. 
Then sated Hunger bids his brother Thirst 
Produce the mighty bowl ; the mighty bowd. 
Swelled high with fiery juice, steams liberal 

round 
A potent gale, delicious, as the breath 
Of Maia to the love-sick shepherdess, 
On violets diffused, while soft she hears 
Her panting shepherd stealing to her arms. 
Nor wanting is the brown October, drawn, 
Mature and perfect, from his dark retreat 
Of thirty years ; and now^ his honest front 
Flames in the light refulgent, not afraid 
Even with the vineyard's best produce to vie. 
To cheat the thirsty moments, Whist awhile 
46 



Autumn. 




.,^V 



Walks his grave round beneath a cloud of 

smoke, 
Wreathed, fragrant, from the pipe ; or the 

quick dice, 
In thunder leaping from the box, awake 
The sounding gammon ; while romp-loving 

miss 
Is hauled about, in gallantry robust. 
47 



STfje Reasons, 



At last these puling idlenesses laid 
Aside, frequent and full, the dry divan 
Close in firm circle ; and set, ardent, in 
For serious drinking. Nor evasion sly, 
Nor sober shift, is to the puking wretch 
Indulged apart ; but earnest, brimming bowls 
Lave every soul, the table floating round. 
And pavement, faithless to the fuddled foot. 
Thus as they swim in mutual swill, the talk. 
Vociferous at once from twenty tongues, 
Reels fast from theme to theme ; from horses, 

hounds. 
To church or mistress, politics or ghost, 
In endless mazes, intricate, perplexed. 
Meantime, with sudden interruption, loud. 
The impatient catch bursts from the joyous 

heart : 
That moment touched is each congenial soul ; 
And, opening in a full-mouthed cry of joy. 
The laugh, the slap, the jocund curse goes 

round ; 
While, from their slumbers shook, the ken- 
nelled hounds 
Mix in the music of the day again. 
48 



^titumn* 



As when the tempest, that has vexed the 

deep 
The dark night long, with fainter murmurs 

falls. 
So gradual sinks their mirth. Their feeble 

tongues, 
Unable to take up the cumbrous word. 
Lie quite dissolved. Before their maudlin 

eyes, 
Seen dim and blue, the double tapers dance, 
Like the sun wading through the misty sky. 
Then, sliding soft, they drop. Confused 

above, 
Glasses and bottles, pipes and gazetteers. 
As if the table even itself was drunk. 
Lie a wet broken scene ; and wide, below. 
Is heaped the social slaughter : where, astride, 
The lubber power in filthy triumph sits. 
Slumbrous, inclining still from side to side. 
And steeps them drenched in potent sleep 

till morn. 
Perhaps some doctor, of tremendous paunch. 
Awful and deep, a black abyss of drink. 
Outlives them all ; and from his buried flock 
49 



Wi}z Reasons. 



Retiring, full of rumination sad, 
Laments the weakness of these latter times. 
But if the rougher sex by this fierce sport 
Is hurried wild, let not such horrid joy 
E'er stain the bosom of the British fair. 
Far be the spirit of the chase from them ! 
Uncomely courage, unbeseeming skill : 
To spring the fence, to rein the prancing 

steed ; 
The cap, the whip, the masculine attire ; 
In which they roughen to the sense, and all 
The winning softness of their sex is lost. 
In them 'tis graceful to dissolve at woe; 
With every motion, every word, to wave 
Quick o'er the kindling cheek the ready 

blush ; 
And from the smallest violence to shrink. 
Unequal, then the loveliest in their fears, 
And by this silent adulation, soft. 
To their protection more engaging man. 
O, may their eyes no miserable sight. 
Save weeping lovers, see ! a nobler game. 
Through Love's enchanting wiles pursued, 
^ yet fled, 

50 



Autumn. 



In chase ambiguous. May their tender limbs 
Float in the loose simplicity of dress. 
And, fashioned all to harmony, alone 
Know they to seize the captivated soul, 
In rapture warbled from love-breathing lips ; 
To teach the lute to languish ; with smooth 

step, 
Disclosing motion in its every charm. 
To swim along, and swell the mazy dance ; 
To train the foliage o'er the snowy lawn ; 
To guide the pencil, turn the tuneful page ; 
To lend new flavour to the fruitful year, 
And heighten Nature's dainties : in their race 
To rear their graces into second life ; 
To give society its highest taste ; 
Well-ordered home man's best delight to 

make ; 
And by submissive wisdom, modest skill, 
With every gentle care-eluding art. 
To raise the virtues, animate the bliss, 
Even charm the pains to something more 

than joy, 
And sweeten all the toils of human life : 
This be the female dignity and praise. 
53 



Wi)z Reasons, 



Ye swains, now hasten to the hazel bank ; 
Where, down yon dale, the wildly winding 

brook 
Falls hoarse from steep to steep. In close 

array, 
Fit for the thickets and the tangling shrub, 
Ye virgins, come. For you their latest song 
The woodlands raise : the clustering nuts for 

you 
The lover finds amid the secret shade ; 
And, where they burnish on the topmost 

bough. 
With active vigour crushes down the tree ; 
Or shakes them ripe from the resigning 

husk, 
A glossy shower, and of an ardent brown, 
As are the ringlets of Melinda's hair : 
Melinda, formed with every grace complete ; 
Yet these neglecting, above beauty wise, 
And far transcending such a vulgar praise. 

Hence from the busy joy-resounding fields. 
In cheerful error, let us tread the maze 
Of Autumn, unconfined ; and taste, revived. 
The breath of orchard big with bending fmit. 
54 



Autumn* 



Obedient to the breeze and beating ray, 
From the deep-loaded bough a mellow shower 
Incessant melts away. The juicy pear 
Lies, in a soft profusion, scattered round. 
A various sweetness swells the gentle race ; 
By Nature's all-refining hand prepared ; 
Of tempered sun, and water, earth, and air, 
In ever-changing composition mixed. 
Such, falling frequent through the chiller 

night. 
The fragrant stores, the wide-projected heaps 
Of apples, which the lusty-handed year, 
Innumerous, o'er the blushing orchard shakes. 
A various spirit, fresh, delicious, keen. 
Dwells in their gelid pores ; and, active, 

points 
The piercing cider for the thirsty tongue : 
Thy native theme, and boon inspirer too, 
Phillips, Pomona's bard, the second thou 
Who nobly durst, in rhyme-unfettered verse. 
With British freedom sing the British song : 
How, from Silurian vats, high sparkling 

wines 
Foam in transparent floods, — some strong 

to cheer 55 



Cf)0 Reasons. 



The wintry revels of the labouring hind, 
And tasteful some, to cool the summer hours. 
In this glad season, while his sweetest 

beams 
The sun sheds equal o^er the meekened day, 
O, lose me in the green delightful walks 
Of, Dodington, thy seat, serene and plain ; 
Where simple Nature reigns ; and every view. 
Diffusive, spreads the pure Dorsetian downs, 
In boundless prospect ; yonder shagged with 

wood, 
Here rich with harvest, and there white with 

flocks ! 
Meantime the grandeur of thy lofty dome, 
Far-splendid, seizes on the ravislied eye. 
New beauties rise with each revolving day ; 
New columns swell ; and still the fresh Spring 

finds 
New plants to quicken, and new groves to 

green. 
Full of thy genius all ! the Muses"' seat ; 
Where in the secret bower and winding walk, 
For virtuous Young and thee they twine the 

bay. 

56 



Autumn, 



Here wandering oft, fired with the restless 

thirst 
Of thy applause, I solitar}- court 




The inspiring breeze, and meditate the book 
Of Nature, ever open ; aiming thence. 
Warm from the heart, to learn the moral 
song. 

57 



Cf)e Seasons. 



And. as I steal along the sunny wall, 

Where autumn basks, with fruit empurpled 

deep, 
My pleasing theme continual prompts my 

thought : 
Presents the downy peach ; the shining plum^j 
With a fine bluish mist of animals 
Clouded ; the ruddy nectarine ; and, dark 
Beneath his ample leaf, the luscious fig. 
The vine too here her curling tendrils shoots, 
Hangs out her clusters, glowing to the south, 
And scarcely wishes for a warmer sky. 

Turn we a moment Fancy's rapid flight 
To vigorous soils, and climes of fair extent ; 
Where, by the potent sun elated high. 
The vineyard swells refulgent on the day ; 
Spreads o'er the vale ; or up the mountain 

climbs, 
Profuse ; and drinks amid the sunny rocks. 
From cliff to cliff increased, the heightened 

blaze. 
Low bend the weighty boughs. The clusters 

clear. 
Half through the foliage seen, or ardent 

flame, 58 



I 



1 



Autumn, 



Or shine transparent ; while perfection 

breathes, 
White o'er the turgent iilm, the Hving dew. 
As thus they brighten with exalted juice, 
Touched into flavour by the mingling ray, 
The rural youth and virgins o'er the field, 
Each fond for each to cull the autumnal prime, 
Exulting rove, and speak the vintage nigh. 
Then comes the crushing swain ; the country 

floats, 
And foams unbounded with the mashy flood ; 
That by degrees fermented, and refined. 
Round the raised nations pours the cup of 

joy: 
The claret smooth, red as the lip w^e press 
In sparkling fancy, while we drain the bowl ; 
The mellow-tasted Burgundy ; and, quick 
As is the wit it gives, the gay champagne. 

Now, by the cool declining year condensed, 
Descend the copious exhalations, checked 
As up the middle sky unseen they stole, 
And roll the doubling fogs around the hill. 
No more the mountain, horrid, vast, sublime, 
Who pours a sweep of rivers from his sides, 
6i 



E|)e -Scasous. 



And high between contending kingdoms rears 
The rocky long division, fills the view 
With great variety ; but in a night 
Of gathering vapour, from the bafifled sense 
Sinks dark and dreary. Thence expanding 

far. 
The huge dusk, gradual, swallows up the 

plain : 
Vanish the woods : the dim-seen river seems 
Sullen, and slow, to roll the misty wave. 
Even in the height of noon oppressed, the 

sun 
Sheds, weak and blunt, his wide-refracted 

ray; 
Whence glaring oft, with many a broadened 

orb, 
He frights the nations. Indistinct on earth. 
Seen through the turbid air, beyond the life 
Objects appear ; and, wildered, o'er the waste 
The shepherd stalks gigantic ; till at last 
Wreathed dun around, in deeper circles still 
Successive closing, sits the general fog 
Unbounded o'er the world; and, mingling 

thick, 

62 



Autumn. 



A formless grey confusion covers all. 
As when of old (so sung the Hebrew bard) 
Light, uncollected, through the chaos urged 
Its infant way ; nor order yet had drawn 




His lovely train from out the dubious gloom. 
These roving mists, that constant now 
begin 
To smoke along the hilly country, these. 



With weighty rains, and 

snows. 
The mountain-cisterns fill, 

stores, 

63 



melted Alpine 
— those ample 



E\)z Seasons. 



Of water, scooped among the hollow rocks ; 
Whence gush the streams, the ceaseless foun- 
tains play, 
And their unfailing wealth the rivers draw. 
Some sages say, that, where the numerous 

wave 
Forever lashes the resounding shore, 
Drilled through the sandy stratum, every way, 
The waters with the sandy stratum rise ; 
Amid whose angles, infinitely strained. 
They joyful leave their jaggy salts behind, 
And clear and sweeten as they soak along. 
Nor stops the restless fluid, mounting still. 
Though oft amidst the irriguous vale it 

springs ; 
But to the mountain courted by the sand. 
That leads it darkling on in faithful maze. 
Far from the parent-main, it boils again 
Fresh into day ; and all the glittering hill 
Is bright with spouting rills. But hence this 

vain 
Amusive dream ! why should the waters love 
To take so far a journey to the hills. 
When the sweet valleys offer to their toil 
64 



Autumn. 



Inviting quiet, and a nearer bed? 

Or if by blind ambition led astray, 

They must aspire, why should they sudden 

stop 
Among the broken mountain's rushy dells. 
And, ere they gain its highest peak, desert 
The attractive sand that charmed their course 

so long? 
Besides, the hard agglomerating salts, 
The spoil of ages, would impervious choke 
Their secret channels ; or, by slow degrees, 
High as the hills protrude the swelling vales : 
Old ocean too, sucked through the porous 

globe. 
Had long ere now forsook his horrid bed. 
And brought Deucalion's watery times again. 
Say then, where lurk the vast eternal springs, 
That like creating Nature, lie concealed 
From mortal eye, yet with their lavish stores 
Refresh the globe, and all its joyous tribes? 
O thou pervading genius, given to man 
To trace the secrets of the dark abyss, 
O, lay the mountains bare, and wide display 
Their hidden structure to the astonished 

view ! 65 



Cf)£ Reasons. 



Strip from the branching Alps their piny 

load ; 
The huge encumbrance of horrific woods 
From Asian Taurus, from Imaus stretched 
Athwart the roving Tartar's sullen bounds ; 
Give opening Hemus to my searching eye. 
And high Olympus, pouring many a stream. 
O, from the sounding summits of the north. 
The Dofrine hills, through Scandinavia rolled 
To farthest Lapland and the frozen main ; 
From lofty Caucasus, far seen by those 
Who in the Caspian and black Euxine toil ; 
From cold Riphean rocks, which the wild 

Russ 
Believes the stony girdle of the world ; 
And all the dreadful mountains, wrapped in 

storm. 
Whence wide Siberia draws her lonely 

floods, — 
O, sweep the eternal snows ; hung o'er the 

deep. 
That ever works beneath his sounding base. 
Bid Atlas, propping heaven, as poets feign, 
His subterranean wonders spread ; unveil 
66 



1 



Autumn, 



The miny caverns, blazing on the day, 
Of Abyssinia's cloud-compelling cliffs, 
And of the bending Mountains of the Moon ; 
Overtopping all these giant sons of earth, 
Let the dire Andes, from the radiant line 
Stretched to the stormy seas that thunder 

round 
The southern pole, their hideous deeps un- 
fold! 
Amazing scene! Behold! the glooms dis- 
close ; 
I see the rivers in their infant beds ; 
Deep, deep I hear them, labouring to get 

free. 
I see the leaning strata, artful ranged ; 
The gaping fissures to receive the rains, 
The melting snows, and ever dripping fogs. 
Strewed bibulous above I see the sands, 
The pebbly gravel next, the layers then 
Of mingled moulds, of more retentive earths. 
The guttered rocks and mazy-running clefts ; 
That, while the stealing moisture they trans- 
mit, 
Retard its motion, and forbid its waste. 
69 



S^fjc Reasons. 



Beneath the incessant weeping of these drains, 
I see the rocky siphons stretched immense, 
The mighty reservoirs, of hardened chalk. 
Or stiff compacted clay, capacious formed : 
Overflowing thence, the congregated stores. 
The crystal treasures of the liquid world, 
Through the stirred sands a bubbling pas- 
sage burst ; 
And welling out, around the middle steep, 
Or from the bottoms of the bosomed hills. 
In pure effusion flow. United, thus. 
The exhaling sun, the vapour-burdened air. 
The gelid mountains, that, to rain condensed, 
These vapours in continual current draw. 
And send them, o'er the fair-divided earth. 
In bounteous rivers to the deep again, 
A social commerce hold, and, firm, support 
The full-adjusted harmony of things. 

When Autumn scatters his departing 
gleams. 
Warned of approaching winter, gathered, 

play 
The swallow-people ; and, tossed wide around, 
O'er the calm sky, in convolution swift, 
70 



2tiitumn» 




The feathered eddy floats : rejoicing once, 
Ere to their wintry slumbers they retire ; 
71 



2rf)E Reasons. 



bank. 
And where, unpierced by frost, the cavern 

sweats. 
Or rather into warmer climes conveyed, 
With other kindred birds of season, there 
They twitter cheerful, till the vernal months 
Invite them welcome back: for, thronging, 

now 
Innumerous wings are in commotion all. 

Where the Rhine loses his majestic force 
In Belgian plains, won from the raging deep, 
By diligence amazing, and the strong 
Unconquerable hand of liberty. 
The stork-assembly meets ; for many a day 
Consulting deep and various, ere they take 
Their arduous voyage through the liquid sky : 
And now, their route designed, their leaders 

chose, 
Their tribes adjusted, cleaned their vigorous 

wings. 
And man} a circle, many a short essay. 
Wheeled round and round, in congregation 

full 

72 



Autumn. 



The figured flight ascends ; and, riding high 
The aerial billows, mixes with the clouds. 
Or where the Northern Ocean, in vast 

whirls. 
Boils round the naked melancholy isles 
Of farthest Thule, and the Atlantic surge 
Pours in among the stormy Hebrides ; 
Who can recount what transmigrations there 
Are annual made? what nations come and go? 
And how the living clouds on clouds arise, 
Infinite wings! till all the plume-dark air, 
And rude resounding shore are one wild cry? 
Here the plain harmless native his small 

flock. 
And herd diminutive of many hues. 
Tends on the little island's verdant swell, 
The shepherd's sea-girt reign ; or, to the 

rocks 
Dire-clinging, gathers his ovarious food : 
Or sweeps the fishy shore ; or treasures up 
The plumage, rising full, to form the bed 
Of luxury. And here awhile the Muse, 
High hovering o'er the broad cerulean scene. 
Sees Caledonia, in romantic view : 
73 



Wi)c .Seasons. 



Her airy mountains, from the waving main, 
Invested with a keen dififusive sky, 
Breathing the soul acute ; her forests huge, 
Incult, robust, and tall, by Nature's hand 
Planted of old ; her azure lakes between, 
Poured out extensive, and of watery wealth 
Full ; winding, deep and green, her fertile 

vales, 
With many a cool translucent brimming flood 
Washed lovely, from the Tweed (pure parent- 
stream. 
Whose pastoral banks first heard my Doric 

reed. 
With, sylvan Jed, thy tributary brook) 
To where the north-inflated tempest foams 
O'er Orca's or Betubium's highest peak : 
Nurse of a people in Misfortune's school 
Trained up to hardy deeds ; soon visited 
By Learning, when before the Gothic rage 
She took her western flight. A manly race, 
Of unsubmitting spirit, wise, and brave ; 
Who still through bleeding ages struggled 

hard 
(As well unhappy Wallace can attest, 
74 



Autumn. 



Great patriot-hero! ill-requited chief!) 
To hold a generous, undiminished state ; 
Too much in vain! Hence of unequal bounds 




Impatient, and by tempting glory borne 
O'er every land, for every land their life 
Has flowed profuse, their piercing g 



planned, 



75 



E\}e -Seasons. 



And swelled the pomp of peace their faithful 

toil: 
As from their own clear north, in radiant 

streams, 
Bright over Europe bursts the boreal morn. 
O, is there not some patriot, in whose power 
That best, that godlike luxury is placed, 
Of blessing thousands, thousands yet unborn, 
Through late posterity? some, large of soul, 
To cheer dejected industry, to give 
A double harvest to the pining swain. 
And teach the labouring hand the sweets of 

toil? 
How, by the finest art, the native robe 
To weave ; how, white as hyperborean snow, 
To form the lucid lawn ; with venturous oar 
How to dash wide the billow ; nor look on, 
Shamefully passive, while Batavian fleets 
Defraud us of the glittering finny swarms. 
That heave our friths, and crowd upon our 

shores ; 
How all-enlivening trade to rouse, and wing 
The prosperous sail, from every growing port, 
Uninjured, round the sea-encircled globe ; 
76 



Autumn, 



And thus, in soul united as in name, 
Did Britain reign the mistress of the deep ? 
Yes, there are such. And full on thee, 

Argyle, 
Her hope, her stay, her darling, and her 

boast, 
From her first patriots and her heroes sprung, 
Thy fond imploring country turns her eye ; 
In thee, with all a mother''s triumph, sees 
Her every virtue, every grace combined. 
Her genius, wisdom, her engaging turn. 
Her pride of honour, and her courage tried, 
Calm, and intrepid, in the very throat 
Of sulphurous war, on Tenier's dreadful field. 
Nor less the palm of peace inwreathes thy 

brow : 
For, powerful as thy sword, from thy rich 

tongue 
Persuasion flows, and wins the high debate ; 
While mixed in thee combine the charm of 

youth. 
The force of manhood, and the depth of age. 
Thee, Forbes, too, whom every worth attends. 
As truth sincere, as weeping friendship kind, 

n 



Efje Reasons. 



Thee, truly generous, and in silence great, 
Thy country feels through her reviving arts. 
Planned by thy wisdom, by thy soul in- 
formed ; 
And seldom has she felt a friend like thee. 
But see the fading many-coloured woods. 
Shade deepening over shade, the country 

round 
Imbrown ; a crowded umbrage, dusk and dun. 
Of every hue, from wan declining green 
To sooty dark. These now the lonesome 

Muse, 
Low whispering, lead into their leaf-strewn 

walks. 
And give the season in its latest view. 

Meantime, light shadowing all, a sober calm 
Fleeces unbounded ether : whose least wave 
Stands tremulous, uncertain where to turn 
The gentle current : while, illumined wide, 
The dewy-skirted clouds imbibe the sun, 
And through tlieir lucid veil his softened 

force 
Shed o'er the peaceful world. Then is the 
time 

78 



Autumn. 



For those whom wisdom and whom nature 

charm, 
To steal themselves from the degenerate 

crowd, 
And soar above this little scene of things ; 
To tread low-thoughted Vice beneath their 

feet; 
To soothe the throbbing passions into peace ; 
And woo lone Quiet in her silent walks. 

Thus solitary, and in pensive guise, 
Oft let me wander o'er the russet mead. 
And through the saddened grove, where 

scarce is heard 
One dying strain to cheer the woodman's toil. 
Haply some widowed songster pours his 

plaint. 
Far, in faint warblings, through the tawny 

copse ; 
While congregated thrushes, linnets, larks. 
And each wild throat whose artless strains so 

late 
Swelled all the music of the swarming shades. 
Robbed of their tuneful souls, now shivering 

sit 

79 



2D{ie Seasons. 



On the dead tree, a dull despondent flock ; 
With not a brightness waving o'er their 

plumes, 
And naught save chattering discord in their 

note. 
O, let not, aimed from some inhuman eye, 
The gun the music of the coming year 
Destroy ; and harmless, unsuspecting harm, 
Lay the weak tribes a miserable prey. 
In mingled murder, fluttering on the ground! 
The pale descending year, yet pleasing 

still, 
A gentler mood inspires ; for now the leaf 
Incessant rustles from the mournful grove; 
Oft startling such as, studious, walk below, 
And slowly circles through the waving air. 
But should a quicker breeze amid the boughs 
Sob, o'er the sky the leafy deluge streams ; 
Till, choked and matted with the dreary 

shower, 
The forest walks, at every rising gale, 
Roll wide the withered waste, and whistle 

bleak. 
Fled is the blasted verdure of the fields ; 
80 



^iitunin. 



And, shrunk into their beds, the flowery race 
Their sunny robes resign. Even what re- 
mained 




Of bolder fruits falls from the naked tree ; 
And woods, fields, gardens, orchards, all 

around 
The desolated prospect thrills the soul. 

He comes! he comes! in every breeze the 

power 



E\)z Seasons. 



< 



Of philosophic Melancholy comes! A 

His near approach the sudden starting tear, ■ 
The glowing cheek, the mild dejected air, 
The softened feature, and the beating heart, 
Pierced deep with many a virtuous pang, de- 
clare. 
O'er all the soul his sacred influence breathes ; 
Inflames imagination ; through the breast 
Infuses every tenderness ; and far 
Beyond dim earth exalts the swelling thought. 
Ten thousand thousand fleet ideas, such 
As never mingled with the vulgar dream, 
Crowd fast into the mind's creative eye. 
As fast the correspondent passions rise, 
As varied, and as high : devotion raised 
To rapture, and divine astonishment ; 
The love of nature unconfined, and, chief. 
Of human race ; the large ambitious wish 
To make them blest ; the sigh for suffering 

worth 
Lost in obscurity ; the noble scorn 
Of tyrant pride ; the fearless great resolve ; 
The wonder which the dying patriot draws, 
Inspiring glory through remotest time ; 
82 



^ttttimn. 



The awakened throb for virtue and for fame ; 
The sympathies of love, and friendship dear ; 
With all the social offspring of the heart. 

O, bear me then to vast embowering shades, 
To twilight groves, and visionary vales ; 
To weeping grottos, and prophetic glooms ; 
Where angel forms athwart the solemn dusk, 
Tremendous, sweep, or seem to sweep along ; 
And voices more than human, through the 

void 
Deep sounding, seize the enthusiastic ear. 
Or is this gloom too much? Then lead, 

ye powers, 
That o'er the garden and the rural seat 
Preside, which, shining through the cheerful 

land 
In countless numbers blest Britannia sees ; 
O, lead me to the wide extended walks, 
The fair majestic paradise of Stowe. 
Not Persian Cyrus on Ionia's shore 
E'er saw such sylvan scenes ; such various art 
By genius fired, such ardent genius tamed 
By cool judicious art ; that, in the strife. 
All beauteous Nature fears to be outdone. 
83 



W^t ^eason^. 



And there, O Pitt, thy country's early boast, 
There let me sit beneath the sheltered slopes. 
Or in that temple where, in future times, 
Thou well shalt merit a distinguished name ; 
And, with thy converse blest, catch the last 

smiles 
Of Autumn beaming o'er the yellow woods. 
While there with thee the enchanted round I 

walk, 
The regulated wild, gay Fancy then 
Will tread in thought the groves of Attic 

land ; 
Will from thy standard taste refine her own, 
Correct her pencil to the purest truth 
Of Nature, or, the unimpassioned shades 
Forsaking, raise it to the human mind. 
Or if hereafter she, with juster hand, 
Shall draw the tragic scene, instruct her. 

thou, 
To mark the varied movements of the heart. 
What every decent character requires. 
And every passion speaks. O, through her 

strain 
Breathe thy pathetic eloquence, that moulds 
84 



Autumn, 



The attentive senate, charms, persuades, 

exalts, 
Of honest zeal the indignant lightning throws, 
And shakes Corruption on her venal throne. 
While thus we talk, and through elysian vales 
Delighted rove, perhaps a sigh escapes : 
What pity, Cobham, thou thy verdant files 
Of ordered trees shouldst here inglorious 

range, 
Instead of squadrons flaming o'er the field, 
And long embattled hosts! w^hen the proud 

foe, 
The faithless vain disturber of mankind, 
Insulting Gaul, has roused the world to war ; 
When keen, once more, within their bounds 

to press 
Those polished robbers, those ambitious 

slaves. 
The British youth would hail thy wise com- 
mand. 
Thy tempered ardour and thy veteran skill. 
The western sun withdraws the shortened 

day ; 
And humid evening, gliding o'er the sky, 
85 



^{)e Reasons. 



In her chill progress, to the ground con- 
densed 

The vapours throws. Where creeping waters 
ooze, 

Where marshes stagnate, and where rivers 
wind, 

Cluster the rolling fogs, and swim along 

The dusky-mantled lawn. Meanwhile the 
moon, 

Full-orbed, and breaking through the scat- 
tered clouds. 

Shows her broad visage in the crimsoned east. 

Turned to the sun direct, her spotted disk. 

Where mountains rise, umbrageous dales 
descend, 

And caverns deep, as optic tube descries, 

A smaller earth, gives all his blaze again, 

Void of its flame, and sheds a softer day. 

Now through the passing cloud she seems to 
stoop, 

Now up the pure cerulean rides sublime. 

Wide the pale deluge floats, and streaming 
mild 

O'er the skied mountain to the shadowy vale, 
86 



3 






Autumn. 



While rocks and floods reflect the quivering 

gleam, 
The whole air whitens with a boundless tide 
Of silver radiance, trembling round the world. 
But when, half blotted from the sky, her 

light, 
Fainting, permits the starry fires to burn 
With keener lustre through the depth of 

heaven ; 
Or near extinct her deadened orb appears. 
And scarce appears, of sickly, beamless white ; 
Oft in this season, silent from the north 
A blaze of meteors shoots : ensweeping first 
The lower skies, they all at once converge 
High to the crown of heaven, and all at once 
Relapsing quick, as quickly reascend, 
And mix, and thwart, extinguish, and renew, 
All ether coursing in a maze of light. 

From look to look, contagious through the 

crowd, 
The panic runs, and into wondrous shapes 
The appearance throws : armies in meet array, 
Thronged with aerial spears, and steeds of 

fire ; 

89 



Efjc ^msons. 



Till, the long lines of full extended war 

In bleeding fight commixed, the sanguine 

flood 
Rolls a broad slaughter o'er the plains of 

heaven. 
As thus they scan the visionary scene, 
On all sides swells the superstitious din. 
Incontinent ; and busy frenzy talks 
Of blood and battle ; cities overturned. 
And late at night in swallowing earthquake 

sunk, 
Or hideous wrapt in fierce ascending flame ; 
Of sallow famine, inundation, storm ; 
Of pestilence, and every great distress ; 
Empires subversed, when ruling fate has 

struck 
The unalterable hour : even Nature's self 
Is deemed to totter on the brink of time. 
Not so the man of philosophic eye 
And inspect sage ; the waving brightness he 
Curious surveys, inquisitive to know 
The causes, and materials, yet unf.xed, 
Of this appearance beautiful and new. 

Now black and deep, the night begins to 

fall, 90 



Autumn, 



A shade immense! Sunk in the quenching 

gloom, 
Magnificent and vast, are heaven and earth. 
Order confounded hes ; all beauty void, 
Distinction lost, and gay variety 
One universal blot : such the fair power 
Of light, to kindle and create the whole. 
Drear is the state of the benighted wretch, 
Who then, bewildered, wanders through the 

dark, 
Full of pale fancies, and chimeras huge ; 
Nor visited by one directive ray, 
From cottage streaming, or from airy hall. 
Perhaps, impatient as he stumbles on, 
Struck from the root of slimy rushes, blue, 
The wildfire scatters round, or, gathered, trails 
A length of flame deceitful o'er the moss : 
Whither decoyed by the fantastic blaze. 
Now lost and now renewed, he sinks absorpt, 
Rider and horse, amid the miry gulf; 
While still, from day to day, his pining wife 
And plaintive children his return await. 
In wild conjecture lost. At other times, 
Sent by the better genius of the night, 
91 



2rf)e Seasons. 



Innoxious, gleaming on the horse's mane, 
The meteor sits ; and shows the narrow path, 
That, winding, leads through pits of death, or 

else 
Instmcts him how to take the dangerous ford. 
The lengthened night elapsed, the morning 

shines 
Serene, in all her dewy beauty bright, 
Unfolding fair the last autumnal day. 
And now the mounting sun dispels the fog ; 
The rigid hoar-frost melts before his beam ; 
And hung on every spray, on every blade 
Of grass, the myriad dew-drops twinkle 

round. 
Ah, see where, robbed and murdered, in 

that pit 
Lies the still heaving hive! at evening 

snatched, 
Beneath the cloud of guilt-concealing night. 
And fixed o'er sulphur : while, not dreaming 

ill. 
The happy people, in their waxen cells. 
Sat tending public cares, and planning schemes 
Of temperance, for winter poor ; rejoiced 
92 



Autumn. 



To mark, full flowing round, their copious 

stores. 
Sudden the dark oppressive steam ascends ; 
And, used to milder scents, the tender race, 
By thousands, tumble from their honeyed 

domes, 
Convolved, and agonising in the dust. 
And was it then for this you roamed the 

spring. 
Intent, from flower to flower? for this you 

toiled 
Ceaseless the burning summer heats away? 
For this in autumn searched the blooming 

waste. 
Nor lost one sunny gleam ? for this sad fate ? 
O man, tyrannic lord! how long, how long 
Shall prostrate Nature groan beneath your 

rage, 
Awaiting renovation? when obliged. 
Must you destroy? of their ambrosial food 
Can you not borrow ; and, in just return, 
Afl'ord them shelter from the wintry winds ; 
Or, as the sharp year pinches, with their own 
Again regale them on some smiling day? 
93 



Ef)c Reasons. 



See where the stony bottom of their town 
Looks desolate and wild ; with here and there 
A helpless number, who the mined state 
Survive, lamenting weak, cast out to death. 
Thus a proud city, populous and rich, 
Full of the works of peace, and high in joy. 
At theatre or feast, or sunk in sleep 
(As late, Palermo, was thy fate), is seized 
By some dread earthquake, and convulsive 

hurled. 
Sheer from the black foundation, stench- 
involved. 
Into a gulf of blue sulphureous flame. 

Hence every harsher sight! for now the 
day, 
Cer heaven and earth diffused, grows warm 

and high. 
Infinite splendour! wide investing all. 
How still the breeze! save what the filmy 

threads 
Of dew evaporate brushes from the plain. 
How clear the cloudless sky! how deeply 

tinged 
With a peculiar blue ! the ethereal arch 
94 



Autumn. 



How swelled immense ! amid whose azure 

throned 
The radiant sun how gay! how calm below, 
The gilded earth ! the harvest-treasures all 
Now gathered in, beyond the rage of storms, 
Sure to the swain ; the circling fence shut up ; 
And instant Winter's utmost rage defied : 
While, loose to festive joy, the country round 
Laughs with the loud sincerity of mirth. 
Shook to the wind their cares. The toil- 
strung youth, 
By the quick sense of music taught alone. 
Leaps wildly graceful in the lively dance. 
Her every charm abroad, the village-toast. 
Young, buxom, warm, in native beauty rich, 
Darts not unmeaning looks ; and where her 

eye 
Points an approving smile, with double force 
The cudgel rattles, and the wrestler twines. 
Age too shines out ; and, garrulous, recounts 
The feats of youth. Thus they rejoice; nor 

think 
That, with to-morrow's sun, their annual toil 
Begins again the never ceasing round. 
95 



SEfjc Seasons. 



n 



O, knew he but his happiness, of men 
The happiest he, who, far from pubhc rage, 
Deep in the vale, with a choice few retired, 
Drinks the pure pleasures of the rural life. 
What though the dome be wanting, whose 

proud gate, 
Each morning, vomits out the sneaking crowd 
Of flatterers false, and in their turn abused ? 
Vile intercourse! what though the glittering 

robe. 
Of every hue reflected light can give, i 

Or floating loose, or stifl" with mazy gold, 
The pride and gaze of fools! oppress him 

not? 
What though, from utmost land and sea pur- 
veyed. 
For him each rarer tributary life 
Bleeds not, and his insatiate table heaps 
With luxury, and death? What though his 

bowl 
Flames not with costly juice ; nor, sunk in 

beds, 
Oft of gay care, he tosses out the night, 
Or melts the thoughtless hours in idle state? 
96 



^utiintn. 



What though he knows not those fantastic 

joys 
That still amuse the wanton, still deceive, — 
A face of pleasure, but a heart of pain, — 




Their hollow moments undelighted all? 
Sure peace is his ; a solid life, estranged 
To disappointment and fallacious hope t 
97 



Ci)c ^fasons. 



Rich in content, in Nature's bounty rich, 

In herbs and fruits; whatever greens the 

Spring, 
When heaven descends in showers ; or bends 

the bough, 
When Summer reddens, and when Autumn 

beams ; 
Or in the wintry glebe whatever lies 
Concealed, and fattens with the richest sap. 
These are not wanting ; nor the milk^ drove, 
Luxuriant, spread o'er all the lowing vale ; 
Nor bleating mountains ; nor the chide of 

streams. 
And hum of bees, inviting sleep sincere 
Into the guiltless breast, beneath the shade. 
Or thrown at large amid the fragrant hay ; 
Nor aught besides of prospect, grove, or 

song. 
Dim grottos, gleaming lakes, and fountain 

clear. 
Here too dwells simple Truth ; plain Inno- 
cence ; 
Unsullied Beauty ; sound unbroken Youth, 
Patient of labour, with a little pleased ; 



1 



^iittitrtn. 



Health ever blooming ; unambitious Toil ; 
Calm Contemplation, and Poetic Ease. 

Let others brave the flood in quest of gain, 
And beat, for joyless months, the gloomy 

wave. 
Let such as deem it glory to destroy, 
Rush into blood, the sack of cities seek ; 
Unpierced, exulting in the widow's wail, 
The virgin's shriek, and infant's trembling 

cry. 
Let some, far-distant from their native soil, 
Urged or by want or hardened avarice, 
Find other lands beneath another sun. 
Let this through cities work his eager way. 
By legal outrage and established guile. 
The social sense extinct ; and that ferment 
Mad into tumult the seditious herd, 
Or melt them down to slavery. Let these 
Insnare the wretched in the toils of law. 
Fomenting discord, and perplexing right. 
An iron race! and those of fairer front. 
But equal inhumanity, in courts. 
Delusive pomp and dark cabals, delight ; 
Wreathe the deep bow, diffuse the lying 

smile, 99 



Wi)t Reasons. 



11 



And tread the weary labyrinth of state. 

While he, from all the stormy passions free 

That restless men involve, hears, and but 
hears, 

At distance safe, the human tempest roar, 

Wrapped close in conscious peace. The fall 
of kings. 

The rage of nations, and the crush of states, 

Move not the man who, from the world es- 
caped. 

In still retreats and flowery solitudes. 

To Nature's voice attends, from month to 
month. 

And day to day, through the revolving year ; 

Admiring, sees her in her every shape ; 

Feels all her sweet emotions at his heart ; 

Takes what she liberal gives, nor thinks of 
more. 

He, when young Spring protrudes the burst- 
ing germs, 

Marks the first bud, and sucks the healthful 
gale 

Into his freshened soul ; her genial hours 

He full enjoys ; and not a beauty blows, 

100 







'Im 



iM« l*^ -V 



Autumn. 



And not an opening blossom breathes in vain. 
In Summer he, beneath the living shade, 
Such as o''er frigid Tempe wont to wave. 
Or Hemus cool, reads what the Muse, of these, 
Perhaps, has in immortal numbers sung; 
Or, what she dictates, writes ; and, oft an eye 
Shot round, rejoices in the vigorous year. 
When Autumn's yellow lustre gilds the 

world, 
And tempts the sickled swain into the field, 
Seized by the general joy, his heart distends 
With gentle throes ; and, through the tepid 

gleams 
Deep musing, then he best exerts his song. 
Even Winter wild to him is full of bliss. 
The mighty tempest, and the hoary waste. 
Abrupt and deep, stretched o'er the buried 

earth. 
Awake to solemn thought. At night the skies, 
Disclosed and kindled by refining frost. 
Pour every lustre on the exalted eye. 
A friend, a book, the stealing hours secure. 
And mark them down for wisdom. With 



swift wing. 



103 



C{)c Reasons. 



1 



O'er land and sea imagination roams ; 
Or truth, divinely breaking on his mind, 
Elates his being, and unfolds his powers ; 
Or in his breast heroic virtue burns. 
The touch of kindred too and love he feels ; 
The modest eye, whose beams on his alone 
Ecstatic shine ; the little strong embrace 
Of prattling children, twined around his neck, 
And emulous to please him, calling forth 
The fond parental soul. Nor purpose gay, 
Amusement, dance, or song, he sternly scorns ; 
For happiness and true philosophy 
Are of the social still, and smiling kind. 
This is the life which those who fret in guilt, 
And guilty cities, never knew ; the life 
Led by primeval ages, uncorrupt. 
When angels dwelt, and God himself, with 

man. 
O Nature! all-sufficient! overall! 
Enrich me with the knowledge of thy works ; 
Snatch me to heaven ; thy rolling wonders 

there, 
World beyond w^orld, in infinite extent, 
Profusely scattered o'er the void immense, 
104 



^ 



Autumn. 



Show me ; their motions, periods, and their 

laws 
Give me to scan ; through the disclosing deep 
Light my blind way : the mineral strata there ; 
Thrust, blooming, thence the vegetable world ; 
O'er that the rising system, more complex, 
Of animals ; and higher still, the mind, 
The varied scene of quick-compounded 

thought. 
And where the mixing passions endless shift ; 
These ever open to my ravished eye, 
A search the flight of time can ne'er exhaust! 
But if to that unequal ; if the blood, 
In sluggish streams about my heart, forbid 
That best ambition ; under closing shades, 
Inglorious, lay me by the lowly brook. 
And whisper to my dreams. From thee be- 
gin. 
Dwell all on thee, with thee conclude my 

song; 
And let me never, never stray from thee ! 



105 



p X '^f.* .^^ 











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